If you're under 21 and facing a DUI in Mississippi, the rules aren't the same as they are for an adult. Mississippi's Zero Tolerance for Minors law creates a separate set of penalties, and a separate BAC threshold, that most people don't know exists until they're already dealing with it. Here's how it actually works.
Transcript
Let's talk about minor DUIs in Mississippi. By minor, I mean under the age of 21, that's what we're talking about here, not minor under 16 or under 18. That term has a lot of different meanings in Mississippi law depending on which area you're talking about, but here we mean somebody under 21 being charged with a DUI. Mississippi has a special law called Zero Tolerance for Minors that applies to people under 21 who are charged with DUI.
There are some wrinkles that make this different from a normal DUI. First, it only applies if the person's BAC is above 0.02 and below 0.08. Above 0.08, it's treated as a normal DUI, adult rules apply. If there are no test results, meaning a refusal, the case can still be treated under the Zero Tolerance for Minors Act. A refusal also brings its own separate issue: the refusal suspension, which applies in addition to any suspension that comes from a DUI conviction.
Let's talk penalties. If someone's BAC is between 0.02 and 0.08, the penalties are lighter than what an adult would face at 0.08 or above. A minor in that range cannot be sent to jail, there's no jail time prescribed in the statute at all. The only penalty is a fine, plus court costs, plus suspension, and everything else that normally comes with a DUI, minus jail time. The fine is set at exactly $250, not more, not less. Compare that to an adult DUI: a first offense adult DUI carries a $250 to $1,000 fine and up to 48 hours in jail (the court doesn't have to impose the jail time, but it's available). A second adult offense jumps to a $500 to $1,500 fine and real jail time measured in months. A third offense becomes a felony. For minors in the 0.02 to 0.08 zero tolerance range, though, subsequent offenses only increase the fine, there's no escalation to jail time. License suspensions do get progressively worse with each offense, and it still goes on both your criminal and driving record, meaning higher insurance rates and potential licensing complications in fields like medicine or law down the road. But within that 0.02 to 0.08 range, minors do get more leniency than an adult DUI would carry.
Non-adjudication is also available here. A minor DUI cannot be adjudicated, meaning if a 19 year old is caught with a 0.04 BAC, that case can be non-adjudicated. It's treated just like a standard non-adjudication for an adult DUI: the ignition interlock device requirement to avoid suspension, probation during that period, and the Mississippi Alcohol Safety Education Program class, all of it still applies.
There's one more wrinkle worth knowing. Someone under 21 cannot be convicted of aggravated DUI if their BAC is below 0.08 (they can technically be charged with almost anything if an officer swears to probable cause and a judge signs off, but charged and convicted are two very different things). So when a minor has a BAC between 0.02 and 0.08, the charge that applies is a violation of Mississippi's Zero Tolerance for Minors law specifically.
The takeaway: if someone under 21 is behind the wheel with a BAC between 0.02 and 0.08, or if there are no test results at all, they can still be charged with DUI under Mississippi's Zero Tolerance for Minors Act, just with a different, somewhat more lenient, set of rules than an adult would face.